Most cortical circuitry interconnects neurons across cortical columns, rather than within

May 11, 2015

An international research team has reconstructed anatomically realistic 3D models of cortical columns of the rat brain, providing unprecedented insight into how neurons in the elementary functional units of the sensory cortex called cortical columns are interconnected.

The models suggest that cortical circuitry interconnects most neurons across cortical columns, rather than within and that these “trans-columnar” networks are not uniformly structured: they are highly specialized and integrate… read more

May 11, 2015

MIT researchers have developed an autonomous mission-planning system for “autonomous underwater vehicles” (AUVs) that gives these undersea robots “cognitive” capabilities.

Scientists have been deploying increasingly capable underwater robots to map and monitor pockets of the ocean to track the health of fisheries and survey marine habitats and species. But when deploying these AUVs, much of an engineer’s time is spent writing scripts to direct a robot to carry out… read more

May 8, 2015

An infographic created by the Department of Energy’s Brookhaven Lab uses ocean creatures and objects to illustrate the extraordinary range of wavelengths (the inverse of frequencies) in the electromagnetic spectrum — from radio waves to gamma rays — and the lab’s role in research at these wavelengths. (The spectrum actually extends beyond the objects shown here.)

Many of these objects, including the 30-meter blue whale or the… read more

May 8, 2015

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have developed new paper and flexible polymer substrates with special sensing devices for rapid and accurate detection of pathogens such as HIV, various bacteria, and CD4+ T lymphocytes.

These novel technologies offer the type of robust, simple, and inexpensive biosensing systems required to provide point-of-care health care in remote areas, where there is minimal diagnostic infrastructure or equipment and a lack of trained… read more

May 8, 2015

Graphene’s unique properties make it a potentially ideal membrane for water filtration or desalination. but the process of making it into ultrathin membranes creates leaky defects. So MIT engineers and associates have devised a two-step process to repair these leaks.

As shown in the illustration (top left) graphene is fabricated on a copper surface — a process that can create intrinsic defects in graphene. After lifting the graphene and… read more

May 7, 2015

McGill University researchers have devised a new technique to produce long, custom-designed DNA strands to build nanoscale structures to deliver drugs to targets within the body or take electronic miniaturization to a new level.

Researchers have been assembling and experimenting with DNA structures or “DNA origami” for years, as KurzweilAI has reported. But as these applications continue to develop, they require increasingly large and complex strands of… read more

May 7, 2015

Good news on the serious threat of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens, which are rampant in hospitals and elsewhere: the Alphamer, a “molecular homing beacon,” has been invented by Nobel Laureate Kary Mullis, PhD, who previously invented polymerase chain reaction (PCR), a widely used lab technique for diagnostic tests, sequencing DNA, and other applications.

This entirely novel approach tags bacteria with a molecular “homing beacon” that attracts… read more

Stanford experiment has implications for design of brain-controlled prostheses and for the "free will" debate

May 7, 2015

Haven you ever wondered what goes on in a monkey’s mind when it’s making a decision? We haven’t either. But for Stanford University neuroscientists, doing exactly that could help design better prostheses (such as artificial arms) controlled by a user’s brain.

For example, when should the artificial arm move? Instantly, or only after the user is absolutely certain of a decision (as indicated by neural signals) to avoid a… read more

May 7, 2015

Scientists at the Salk Institute have discovered a novel type of pluripotent stem cell that develops into a tissue type that is based on the stem cell’s region, or location, in a developing embryo.

Pluripotent stem cells are cells that are capable of differentiating (developing) in the embryo into any of the three germ layers: endoderm (interior stomach lining, gastrointestinal tract, the lungs), mesoderm… read more

May 6, 2015

Stereotypes related to gender and appearance that burden women in the real world could follow them into virtual ones, according to Penn State researchers.

In a study of how people interacted with avatars in an online game, women received less help from fellow players than men when they operated an unattractive avatar and when they used a male avatar, said T. Franklin Waddell, a doctoral candidate in mass… read more

May 6, 2015

Oculus VR announced today (May 6) that the Oculus Rift VR headset will be shipping to consumers in Q1 2016, with pre-orders later this year.

“The Rift delivers on the dream of consumer VR with compelling content, a full ecosystem, and a fully-integrated hardware/software tech stack designed specifically for virtual reality,” Oculus VR said in the blog post. “It’s a system designed by a team of extremely… read more

Applications could include drones that can deliver packages to a specific spot on a consumer’s porch, precise collision-avoidance systems on cars (via vehicle-to-vehicle communications), and a globally referenced… read more

“In biology, directed movement involves some form of shape changes, such as the expansion and contraction of muscles,” said Anna C. Balazs, PhD, the Swanson School’s Distinguished Professor of Chemical and Petroleum… read more

May 5, 2015

Non-professionals may someday be able to create high-quality video panoramas using multiple cameras with the help of an algorithm developed by a team of Disney researchers.

Their method smooths out the blurring, ghosting and other distortions that routinely occur when video feeds from unstructured camera arrays are combined to create a single panoramic video. The algorithm corrects for the apparent difference in position of an object caused… read more